Swine Flu ‘Overwhelmed’ U.S. Health-Care System, Report Says

June 4, 2009 by Catherine Larkin Bloomberg News

The swine flu outbreak has overwhelmed the U.S. health-care system, a report said.

"H1N1 is a real-world test of our initial emergency response capabilities," said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit organization in Washington, in an e-mailed statement. "The country is significantly ahead of where we were a few years ago. However, the outbreak also revealed serious gaps in our nation's preparedness."